My best attempt at 'frequent' and 'brief' with lots of pictures!

So Tuesday was a pretty fun day, for the most part. We started out with a trip to the chiropractor, and then story time at the library! (Thanks Gogi, that was a GREAT idea!) So the story time lady is a little kooky and tends to do things a little backwards (she STARTED story time with singing and dancing, complete with maracas for the kids - way to jack the kids up and THEN ask 'em to be quiet for a rather long story, lady!) But the kids enjoyed it immensely. There were a couple of stories, a couple of singing/dancing songs (one with bubbles), and a kitty-cat craft. See how much fun we had?

See our kitty-cats?

Here's a kitty-cat close-up - didn't they do a great job?

On our way out of the library, we just HAD to stop for a photo with the turtles outside...Ash insisted!

After lunch and a rest back at the condo, we rode bikes and plasma cars in the parking lot. Everyone loves the big hill - it's the perfect spot for plasma car races!

Tuesday evening got a little hairy, though. I tried to make everyone's favorite, chicken noodle soup, for supper. Long story short, one bad chicken leg ruined the whole pot of soup. When we realized that the soup was bad and we would have to make an alternate plan for dinner, Aidan Pence had a little meltdown. It took a while to calm him down - which hasn't happened in MONTHS. Weird. He lost all his stars, and so he had to do chores for an hour after dinner. (The upside to this is that he is becoming quite proficient at house cleaning - and he seems to enjoy it. I see weekly chores and an allowance in our near future, and I think that is a very good thing.)

Wednesday, we rode our bikes and cars and played on the playground at Riverside Park in the morning, which the boys thoroughly enjoyed. See?

All three kids in one shot? Twice?? GO MOM!

Wednesday afternoon, Aidan had his session at Brain Balance (his last official session with Ms. Susan, his sensory motor coach. Good luck in Colorado and we'll miss you, Ms. Susan!) Afterwards, we all went to PLAY place again. Ashwin discovered the cafe - it was very entertaining to watch!

And Aidan and Aeson had a ball playing in the rice!

Wednesday evening, we worked on more arts and crafts - lots of Halloween and Autumn cards, and TURKEYS!

Thursday morning, we went for a nature walk around the condo. The boys each collected a bag full of goodies, and we found a whole basket-full of pine cones!

We ran errands in the afternoon (chiropractor, Whole Foods, Dollar Tree) and rode our bikes at the condo in the evening. Oh, and I made my little monkeys a huge and perfect pot of chicken noodle soup, which everyone loved! Thursday night, we were in for a very special treat. Now I always read my monkeys a story or two before bed...but Thursday night, AIDAN read the stories! And he did a SUPER job!

Guess someone was paying attention at the library after all!

Well, I think I'm right at my 600 word goal, so I'm signing off before I overdo it! I'll tackle our weekend adventures a little bit later!

Much love,

Allie

Trying something new...

Hello everyone. Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I've been without an internet connection (for the most part) recently, and I've been working on a little side project in my spare (HA!) time. I was asked to help on a creative project that could possibly turn into a pretty exciting job opportunity for yours truly - keep your fingers crossed for me!

I also got a little blog education from my dear friend Amanda (people, please visit her photography blog here: http://www.amandasummerlin.com/blog/ You will be NOT be disappointed!) Anyway, Amanda gave me a crash course in blogging for business 101. Basically, successful blog posts should be frequent and brief (like 600 words or less - YIKES!) and always include a photo or video (NO problem there for this girl!) So I'm gonna give her advice a shot - although my wordy self is a little intimidated by the 600 words or less thing! (FYI, I'm already just over 150 words, so we're gonna start officially counting right now!)

I'm going to attempt to tell y'all about our fun LAST weekend and the first part of this week...with updates to follow soon on the rest of our week. And I still need to blog about Aidan's assessment - working on that one too, I promise! So here goes!


Last weekend we spent LOTS of time outside - which was fortunate, because the weather changed dramatically towards the end of the week! Saturday, we tried to play at Morgan Falls Park, but it was WAY too crowded. We lost Ash for the longest two or three minutes of my life so far (he was totally fine, and right there on the playground) and so we left...Pence Train Style.

Later, we rode bikes at the condo, and everyone took turns racing the Plasma cars down the big hill!

We also had LOTS of arts and crafts time. Remember my autumn leaves banner?

Well, I now have a snowflake banner that is easily twice as long...

And a pretty nifty pumpkin trio...

And LOTS of homemade autumn and Halloween cards for folks back home...which I won't flash here and ruin the surprise! But ALL of the boys have been very busy coloring and crafting! (just under 200 words - yikes!)

Sunday, we did a little shopping and ran some errands in the morning. After lunch and a good rest, we hit Riverside Park for one final spray ground adventure and a bike ride. It was a LOT of fun!

The boys all had a blast splashing in the spray ground!

The boys LOVE the bike path at Riverside park! And they do a mostly-good job at staying together. We're still learning to yield to other bikers and joggers, though. Baby steps!

That night, I made some smack-your-Mama good BBQ chicken...

Ash was exhausted - he crashed out early. But the big boys and I clowned around taking photos for a minute.

Monday morning, we had to take the van to the VW dealership - it seems that the sliding door that they fixed a month or so ago is not, in fact, fixed. Grrr...Gogi kept the little boys and Aidan went with me. Of course, they have to order the part, blah blah blah. No word yet on when that will be fixed...sigh. Monday afternoon, Aidan had his session at Brain Balance and afterwards, we all played at PLAY place.
Ash LOVES playing at the rice table...

Aeson likes the cafe...

Aidan likes it all, but that day, he was all about the blocks...

So there it is - my first blog post under 600 words, with lots of photos. Other posts will follow shortly. I'm still without my own internet connection, but I found a sweet spot in the condo to piggy pack on a neighbor's unsecured connection - GO ME! LOTS of fun stuff to report for the rest of the week, so keep an eye out! And if I haven't said this before, please feel free to share this blog with anyone who may be interested - both in our exciting adventures and in learning more about the Brain Balance Program. It truly has been a miracle for Aidan.

Much Love,

Allie